Feb
2015
Making a website “mobile friendly" is not a new concept. Ethan Marcotte coined the term “responsive web design" back in 2010 to describe an approach to web design which provides an optimal viewing experience regardless of the screen resolution of the device you were using to view the website.
I design websites to be responsive from the outset these days, be it completely new websites or redesigns for existing clients. Demonstrating the difference in how a properly designed responsive website works on a mobile device compared to an old fixed width website usually is enough to convince a client of the benefits of the technique.
Need more convincing?
Aside from the obvious visual and usability benefits there are also hard figures to back up the case for mobile optimisation. There are examples of websites where a responsive redesign has resulted in conversion rate increases of between 13% up to 100%!
Everyone is concerned about where they appear in Google search rankings and it is clear that Google are now using more than the traditional SEO factors in its consideration of your site. A recent report by Google on a website that was not mobile friendly said the following “These pages will not be seen as mobile-friendly by Google Search, and will therefore be displayed and ranked appropriately for smartphone users". Clearly not good!
Talk to a professional
Aside from the above there are other factors such as your website's speed performance which can affect your search engine ranking. Designing and building a website is one thing. Doing it right is another. There are so many factors to consider in ever increasingly competitive markets that it's best not to leave it to chance and get a professional that knows what they're doing to design and build your website for you (i.e. me!).
Test your website for mobile friendliness.
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